The Death of Some Quality Backlinks and a Great Traffic Source

Posted by JR in Article Marketing, Link Building

Tags: Article Marketing, Link Building, Search Engine Optimization

By, JR

Very bad news for those of us with BANS stores or any auction sites. Ezine Articles is no longer allowing backlinks to auction sites in the author resource box. The much cherished quality backlinks as well as the large amount of targeted traffic from Ezine’s readers is gone forever.

This is upsetting news, as Ezine is one of the premier, if not THE premier articles sites on the web.

How will this affect your link building efforts? Well, it probably won’t break any of us, but it will certainly hurt Article marketing efforts to no longer have those backlinks and it will definitely hurt not having the high amounts of traffic that Ezine can and does bring to our sites.

While a moment of silence may be over dramatic, the reality is this is a sad day!

What do you guys think? Will this hit you hard? Do you care?

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Comments

Frank C (17 comments) 09/18/2008 at 11:15 am

I’ve seen this mentioned on a number of blogs but it’s not listed anywhere on Ezine Articles that I could find. Must be a new “double secret probation” rule.

What I have seen is really vague though. Do they mean any site that has eBay affiliate ads or just BANS? They need to clarify it with a specific policy statement, if they haven’t already.

However, this should serve as a suggestion to build your own internal and external linking network and to not rely on a single source of links.

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 09/18/2008 at 1:18 pm
  
  Hi Frank,
  No they have not added to their TOS or Pub Guidelines, and you are right, they should clarify it there.
  
  How I found out is I submitted a couple of articles to them as usual with links to my BANS sites, and then I got a rejection email, saying my articles could not be approved until I fixed the submission guidelines infraction in the hyperlinks. I went to the guidelines and could not figure out what they were talking about, so I emailed back asking for clarification and the response was..”sorry we no longer accept links to auction sites.” No speicifics like ebay or BANS, just auction sites.
  
  I do find it strange that they have not added it to the guidelines and it could be that they are signaling out specific auction sites, like BANS. Who knows, they are so strict anyway that nothing they do surprises me.
  
  Reply Link
Simple internet strategies
Follow Me on Twitter @: EuniceCoughlin
(15 comments) 09/18/2008 at 1:02 pm

Man, that’s rough! I don’t have a BANS site but I can see where that could put a serious crimp in your marketing efforts…and income! That’s where having a SBI site (or something like it) that targets the same niche could come in handy. You could just link to your BANS site from your SBI site.

Whatever you figure out, good luck!

Simple internet strategiess last blog post..Sep 16, Web Graphics on Your Site

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Suzanne (6 comments) 09/19/2008 at 7:04 am

Was the site/link you submited to a BANS store … or to a WordPress blog with Store attached? I’m wondering if we can link directly to the blog url even though it has a store integrated … Hmmmmmm … Will be curious to see if they approve the last two articles that i submitted or not. Either way … I guess I just keep plugging away. Are you submitting to AffSphere yet? I signed up (Affiliate program on my blog if you want to use my link LOL) and they definitely allow affiliate links in their articles and bio boxes. Bummed about ezine and hope we find a work-around … that’s for sure. And thanks for the “heads up” about this! *SmiLes* Suzanne

Suzannes last blog post..Why You Should Be Using Social Bookmarking Sites

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- JR (1442 comments) 09/19/2008 at 5:50 pm
  
  Hi Suzanne,
  I linked directly to BANS, as I have dozens of times before, but this time they denied me the link, and asked I edit the article to link to a non-auction site, because they no longer allow auction sites. I think the only work around maybe a doorway page, all though, I personally do not I have the time to invest in all that, maybe at some point I might.
  
  Please post here with the response you get to your recent articles, I am curious, all though apparently this has been mentioned on other blogs as well.
  
  Reply Link
Suzanne (6 comments) 09/19/2008 at 6:32 pm

Here is the response:

We would like to help you get this article approved but there is an issue which needs to be resolved first.

Your article does not adhere to our Editorial Guidelines, Section 2.f.

http://EzineArticles.com/editorial-guidelines.html#2-f

The URL(s) included in your article body/resource box are in violation of our guidelines. Please edit or remove the included URL(s), and resubmit your article for Editorial Review.

I emailed back asking them to please tell me which rule I’m violating.

I am now using Soggy’s WP theme … so it’s a WP blog … with the store pages in the right sidebar … I’m wondering if those sites will pass the “test.” I will keep you posted as I know anything else … Thanks again for the heads up. I would’ve been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what I did wrong! LOL

Suzannes last blog post..Why You Should Be Using Social Bookmarking Sites

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- JR (1442 comments) 09/20/2008 at 1:57 am
  
  Hi Suzanne,
  I got the same email and when I asked of clarity that’s when they responded with “sorry for confusion, we no longer allow links to auction sites”
  
  What is lame is those editorial guidelines, have not been updated to include this new rule, so they don’t even know what’s going on there.
  
  What is weird is that you are linking to a blog, I wonder how they will respond to you, because technically this is NOT an auction site.
  
  You’re welcome and let me know how they respond.
  
  Reply Link
Simple internet strategies
Follow Me on Twitter @: EuniceCoughlin
(15 comments) 09/20/2008 at 9:29 am

Hey, I wonder if we can petition Chris Knight directly? He’s one of my Twitter followers! just kidding….

Simple internet strategiess last blog post..Sep 19, Internet and Network Marketing 2

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 09/20/2008 at 5:51 pm
  
  Hey, you never know, there are thousands of BANS users out there, might work, send a tweet about it directed to him, see if he responds.
  
  Reply Link
Dennis Edell (221 comments) 09/21/2008 at 11:41 am

I wonder how all these new rules and lack of clarification will affect EA in the long run…..no one is untouchable forever.

Dennis Edells last blog post..6 Days Since Last Post: Lots Of Updates!

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Beyond Niche Marketing (7 comments) 09/22/2008 at 3:23 pm

The problem is that we need EA more than EA needs us. As long as that’s the case, the golden rule will apply – he who has the gold makes the rules!

I hadn’t gotten around to building backlinks to my BANS site yet so I’m really sad that I missed the boat!!!

Translation, I have hired my unemployed son who is in high school to do this and he hasn’t yet – and won’t until he runs out of money and finds a pretty girl who doesn’t want to hang with a broke moocher no matter how cute he thinks he is!

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- JR (1442 comments) 09/22/2008 at 3:54 pm
  
  LOL!!!!!!! Yeah you might have to rethink that marketing plan!
  
  Reply Link
Suzanne (6 comments) 09/23/2008 at 1:39 pm

OK … I got the respone back:

Thanks for your email.

I’m sorry for the confusion, but we require all links to contain adequate informative content other than advertising or auction products.

Please edit your article to link to a page with additional informative content, or edit the link to add informative content.

Let me know if you have any questions.

My links in that article (bio box ONLY – no links in body) went to the main page … which is a BANS store page. There is content on there …. but it’s minimal.

I deleted the other article I had in review for personal reasons … but when I give it another try I’ll be curious to see what they say. I will link to the root domain page … which is a wordpress them (soggy dave’s) and you can’t tell it’s store … the navigation buttons are on the right sidebar. I’ll keep you posted as I know more. Thanks again! Suzanne

Suzannes last blog post..15 Things You Should Do to Help Google Do Their Job! Google Ranking Factors

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- JR (1442 comments) 09/23/2008 at 10:18 pm
  
  WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! See they haven’t added this to their publisher guidelines because they are editing on a site by site basis, my message said nothing about content only NO AUCTION sites, plus the fact that my BANS sites are FULL of content, pages of original niche related articles, guides and tutorials, that just happen to have auction pages in the store section. Whatever….they are irritating me now.
  
  Sounds like it should be okay if you link to the root domain, they can’t deny that…looking forward to their reaction to that!
  
  Reply Link
Maddydaddy (1 comments) 01/07/2009 at 8:10 pm

Well, unfortunately i tried the same thing, and got the same response from them, because we are classified as an entertainment auction site. Any suggestions? Thanks

Matt

Reply Link
- JR (1442 comments) 01/07/2009 at 10:25 pm
  
  @Maddydaddy
  What has worked for other people is using a doorway landing page or a blog connected to the auction sites and using that to link to from the resource box. But honestly if you want the backlink power from Ezine using those methods will not work because obviously the backlink will go to the page you are linking to, not the actual home page of the auction site. But, if you want traffic from Ezine at least you have the chance to get it with those method.
  
  I personally have moved onto other article sites for now, I was not about to spend a lot of time on trying to find a way to make it work with Ezine.
  
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